


the same light source

by orphan_account



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Kink Meme, M/M, Multi, alternate universe - modern AU, pretty much one hundred percent fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-07
Updated: 2013-04-07
Packaged: 2017-12-07 19:49:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/752376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Marius and Enjolras are hooking up, Marius meets Cosette and realizes that they should be in a polyamorous relationship with her and tries to subtly tell Enjolras. Enjolras assumes that Marius is dumping him.</em><br/> <br/>In which Marius is bad at social situations, Enjolras is bad at his emotions, and Cosette has really strong opinions about David Cameron. And then they kiss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the same light source

**Author's Note:**

> written for [this](http://makinghugospin.livejournal.com/13024.html?thread=5718496#t5718496) prompt on the kink meme.
> 
> title is from 'dear stranger' by carrie rudzinski: "our smiles will be so close, we'll believe they're from the same light source".
> 
> apologies about the horribly inaccurate dramatization of a protest. i, um, sacrificed accuracy in the name of boyfriends. again, sorry.

Marius is almost entirely convinced he's fallen in love with Enjolras.

It all feels vaguely inevitable. He is, after all, Enjolras; to know him is to love him, as the saying goes. He's not perfect - far from it, and Marius can certainly attest to this, having been friends with him for a few years now and having had plenty of chances to see him at his worst - but he's close in all of the ways that count.

He's Marius' closest friend.

He is, as far as Marius can tell, completely uninterested in any kind of relationship. He's in love with revolution and equality for all. Marius, like everything else, comes second, if a very close second.

Enjolras wouldn't want to distract himself from the cause with romance. (Even though, some would agree, he damn well deserves it).

So, naturally, Marius is in love with him. Marius' luck has never been on his side, and his heart has always, seemingly, set out to damn him.

There is, however, a revolution to be thinking about. Marius shouldn't waste his time pining when he could be doing something useful, something beneficial to their cause. And so he puts his heart out of his mind as best he can, determined to focus on other things. 

(He should have known that wasn't going to work).

\- 

The protest is the latest in a string of pickets-turned-riots about university fees.

The ABC have made university fees their goal of the moment. It's something that hits close to home - student loans are a very real problem for almost all of their motley group - and it's something the public is starting to agree with them on, for once.

This protest was meant to be peaceful.

(If Enjolras had a penny for every peaceful protest that turned into a full-blown riot...)

It was meant to be peaceful, and now it's really, really not. The protestors are angry, frustrated, and the police are there. People are screaming, shouting, fighting. People are throwing bricks. 

At the first sign of violence, half of the ABC had made themselves scarce. Getting arrested wasn't the name of the game today, and God knows most of them don't need anymore of a criminal record than is strictly necessary.

Enjolras had stuck around, unwilling to leave when things were still happening. Bahorel, Courfeyrac, Grantaire and Marius had stayed too, except Enjolras can't see Marius anywhere and he's starting to worry.

It's not that he doesn't think Marius can't handle himself. It's just that... Okay, it's just that he's not entirely convinced Marius can handle himself. Not in what's quickly becoming a full-scale riot.

"R!" Enjolras calls, and Grantaire whips round. There's a bruise blooming on his cheek, but he's grinning, maniac that he is, so Enjolras isn't too worried. "Have you seen Marius?"

Grantaire looks around, and then his face pales. "Shit, no. Fuck. Hopefully Courf is with him?"

Enjolras swallows. He's not worried. Marius is fine. Of course he's fine, it's not like people ever get crushed to death in riots- Fuck, fuck, why did he think that... "I'm going to go find him. Can you find Bahorel and get out of here? You don't need to get arrested again."

"Sure. Meet back at 'Ferre's, yeah?" Grantaire asks, and Enjolras nods, but he's already looked away from Grantaire, frantically scanning the crowd for Marius. "Good luck."

And then Grantaire is gone, disappeared back into the fray, and Enjolras is alone.

Marius. He has to find Marius.

-

Marius isn't too sure at what point the protest got so damn violent, but he's starting to wish he hadn't come.

Or at least that he'd kept a tighter hold on Courfeyrac's jacket, because now they've been separated and Marius is alone and this is going to end badly, Marius can feel it.

Sure enough, he catches sight of a policeman cornering a teenage girl (Christ, she can't be much older than Gavroche) out of the corner of his eye. Going over is probably a really bad idea, but God, what else is he meant to do?

"Oi!" He shouts. "Leave her alone! She's just a kid!"

"Oh yeah?" The policeman says, with a nasty snarl. Marius definitely does not swallow nervously. "And why should I listen to you?"

"You've got no right bashing her around." Marius says defiantly. "She's not doing you any harm."

"She was throwing bricks."

"Yeah, and police brutality's an urban myth." Marius spits back. And then starts up a mental litany of 'shit shit shit', because _shit_ , he's fucked. He is so very fucked.

"Oh, you're going to-" The policeman starts, lunging for Marius, and fuck, fuck, fuck-

And then Enjolras appears.

He looks thunderous, and he doesn't spare Marius a single glance before he's turning on the policeman. "Marius didn't do anything wrong, besides offend your delicate sensibilities. We're leaving now. Good day."

And then he's lacing their fingers together and pulling Marius away, through the throng of people and out of the policeman's sight.

When they're several blocks away, far enough that Marius can barely hear the shouting, Enjolras finally lets go of his hand and they stop in the middle of the street. Enjolras is staring at Marius. He looks almost worried, frenzied, panicked, what? He's never acted like this before when anyone else gets in trouble.

"Never do that again." Enjolras breathes. "Christ, Marius, I'm not going to let you go to protests at all if all you're going to do is antagonise policemen. Do you know how stupid that is? You could have gotten yourself _killed_ , for fuck's sake."

Marius is getting a lecture.

Enjolras looks terrified.

Enjolras has given a terrified lecture once before, in Marius' hearing. It was to his mother, about the dangers of trying to buy a goddamn carton of milk during the summer riots.

Enjolras giving terrified lectures means someone he really, really cares about has just put themselves in unnecessary danger and he's flipping the fuck out about it.

...Oh.

"Oh." Marius breathes.

Enjolras frowns at him. "What? Why are you looking at me like that? Are you listening? Marius, this is important, you-"

He's cut off, then, by Marius reaching up and pressing their lips together.

For one, bone-chilling second, Enjolras doesn't react. He's stone still, and he doesn't move, and he doesn't react, and shit, Marius has read this all wrong and now he's gone and fucked everything up-

And then Enjolras lets out a low noise, and he's kissing back. His hands come up to frame Marius' face, and his tongue makes it's way into Marius' mouth, and oh Jesus Christ Enjolras is good at this.

After a few minutes, they break apart to breathe. Enjolras stares at Marius with a mix of surprise and delight on his face.

"So I'm pretty sure I've been in love with you for years." Marius says, smiling.

"I think... Yeah. Love sounds about right." Enjolras replies, returning the smile. "I've possibly been slightly oblivious, huh?"

Marius huffs fondly. "E, it's you. I wasn't expecting anything else."

There's a beat, during which they stare at each other like saps, and then Enjolras blinks and says, "They're expecting us, at Combeferre's. Can we, um..."

"Relationship negotiation is postponed until we've got time for it." Marius assures him. "Do we want to tell the others?"

"Not yet?" This is possibly the only time Marius has ever seen Enjolras look nervous. He hadn't expected it to be quite so endearing. "Just, not until we're sure. I don't want to throw us to the wolves before we've even gone on a date."

"Okay." Marius agrees, then gives in to the temptation and presses another kiss to Enjolras' lips. "To Combeferre's, then."

-

The only real changes that follow The Kiss (it's an important event, okay, capital letters are entirely necessary) are Marius moving into Enjolras' room, Enjolras sleeping slightly more often (because his bed is far more tempting when it also contains Marius), and certain problems (stress, anger, insomnia, boredom) being fixed with make-out sessions instead of bad sci-fi tv show marathons.

They agree not to tell their friends just yet, though keeping it a secret is harder than Marius thought it would be (seriously, who would have guessed Enjolras is so big on PDA?) and he's pretty sure Courfeyrac and Grantaire, at least, have caught on. 

Several weeks pass this way, with Marius waking up in Enjolras' arms and study sessions that end up being more like cuddling sessions and Enjolras making a mission out of discovering every single sensitive spot on Marius' entire body, and maybe they get slightly less work done than they had before, but there's also a lot more laughter and a lot less stressing, so Marius is considering it a good move.

And then Marius meets Cosette.

And, look. It's not that Enjolras isn't enough. Enjolras, as a person, is consistently more than enough - he's excess personified. It's just that, well. _Cosette_.

They met at a protest - because the only people Marius meets anymore are usually holding placards - and, okay, Marius will admit that he was mostly drawn to her eyes, at first. Her eyes and her hair and her lips and God, she's as pretty as Enjolras (and that's saying something).

But then he'd started up a conversation, and he'd heard her rant about Tories and David Cameron and the many and varied reasons he will burn in hell (the protest was about the bedroom tax), and he was gone. Doomed. No chance in hell.

Because, you see, Marius has a type. That type is blonde-haired, blue-eyed, incredibly passionate revolutionaries.

And it had only gotten worse, once they'd exchanged phone numbers and started meeting up for coffee, talking about anything that came to mind and discovering a boatload of mutual interests (because, if Marius is being honest, he'd marry her for her love of cliché dance movies alone) and, yeah, Marius is completely infatuated.

He's pretty sure Enjolras has noticed. He definitely knows something is up. Marius couldn't keep a secret from Enjolras if the fate of the entire human race depended on it.

And Marius is still hopelessly in love with him. Marius is probably going to be hopelessly in love with Enjolras until the day he dies. He's just also falling hopelessly in love with Cosette. 

He doesn't know how to handle this. 

Cosette and Enjolras would get along like a house on fire, Marius is sure of it. He wants to introduce them. Actually, if he's being honest with himself, he wants to go on a date with both of them, but he's far too socially awkward to try and implement a polyamorous relationship and he has no idea if either of them would even be interested and he's kind of scared to ask. 

He's fine with pining, anyway. Pining and him go way back. 

-

It's Courfeyrac that calls him out on it. 

"Marius!" He calls (because Courfeyrac does everything literally) from across the room when Marius walks into the Musain. "Did my eyes deceive me, or did I see you with a charming young lady earlier?"

Marius chokes.

He knows this is Courf trying to be a good friend - because Courf knows about his not-quite-so-unrequited love for Enjolras, because Courf knows Marius better than he knows himself, and this is just Courf being pleased that it looks like Marius is finally moving on to someone who'll return his affections. 

Except that's not, of course, what's happening. At all. 

And Enjolras' face has already clouded over. 

Shit. 

"You did." Marius admits, making his way over to Courfeyrac and sitting down beside him, avoiding his usual seat next to Enjolras.

Courfeyrac lets out a cheer. "And what's her name? How did you two meet? It was a date, right? When are you going to introduce her to us?"

"Her name's Cosette." Marius says, unable to help the sappy smile spreading across his face (and unable to look at Enjolras, for fear of what he might find there). "We met at the bedroom tax rally a few weeks ago. It wasn't a date."

"But you like her." Courfeyrac says. It's not a question.

Marius bites his lip and mentally curses his inability to lie like he's never cursed it before. "Yeah."

There's a loud clatter as Enjolras abruptly stands up. Marius finally makes himself look at him. His face is caught somewhere between anger and betrayal.

They stare at each other wordlessly for a long moment, and then Enjolras turns to leave. 

Marius stands up too, shouting helplessly, "Wait, no, don't- E, please let me explain, it isn't-"

He's cut off by the door slamming shut.

Like he's a puppet and someone just cut his strings, he collapses back into his seat. "Fuck..."

There's a beat of silence, and then Jehan asks, "Um, what just happened?"

"I am shit at communicating, is what just happened." Marius says, mostly to the tabletop. "I've fucked everything up."

"No, Marius, don't say that." Courfeyrac says, gently. "Communication issues are the most common problem on earth. They're the major plot point of every romcom under the sun, for Christ's sake. We can fix this."

"Enjolras thinks I'm a cheating bastard. Nothing about this can be fixed." Marius mutters.

Courfeyrac sighs. "Okay. Here's what we're going to do. You and me are going to go back to my flat, and we are going to binge on ice cream whilst you explain this, from the beginning. We are going to use the time this will take to let Enjolras cool off. Then, I am going to text a summary of events to Grantaire, who will go set Enjolras straight. And then you will kiss and make up. Okay?"

"Okay." Marius says. He takes a deep breath and lifts his head up off the table. Courfeyrac is an actual Godsend.

Now he just has to hope to all Hell Enjolras will forgive him.

-

"Enjolras!"

Someone is knocking on the door. Hard.

They're incredibly persistent - they've been at it for almost five minutes now - which means it's probably Grantaire. Grantaire is the only person who has the guts to push Enjolras like this.

"Enjolras, if you don't open this goddamn door, I swear to fucking Christ I am going to kick it down myself!"

Definitely Grantaire. 

Enjolras sighs, gives in, and gets up to let Grantaire in. 

Once Grantaire is inside, Enjolras retreats back to the sofa. He likes the sofa. It's never gone behind his back to have coffee with cute girls. The sofa's always been faithful.

"What do you want?" He asks, giving Grantaire his best unimpressed look.

Grantaire returns with his most exasperated sigh. "I am here to play messenger, because apparently we're in primary school."

"I don't want to hear it."

Grantaire looks him in the eye, completely serious and surprisingly tender, which is enough to make Enjolras sit up and take notice of what he's saying. "I know what you think happened. And you're right in being annoyed. But you're also wrong, because what you think happened is not actually what happened, and I am here to set you straight."

Oh, Enjolras should have known. "If you're here to try and convince me Marius wasn't actually doing anything wrong-" He starts, voice building into a shout.

"Marius wasn't actually doing anything wrong." Grantaire interrupts. "Because Marius is still ridiculously head-over-heels in love with you, like he always has been and probably always will be. Ever heard of a little thing called polyamory?"

"...Oh." Enjolras says, deflating somewhat.

"Exactly." Grantaire replies. "This is why couples shouldn't keep secrets. Miscommunication is the major plot point of every romcom ever, doesn't anyone recognise that for the warning it is? _Seriously_." 

Enjolras glares at him. He doesn't have the time or the patience for one of Grantaire's off-topic rants right now.

"Marius has met a girl." Grantaire continues, rolling his eyes in response to the glare. "She has blonde hair, blue eyes, and strong opinions, because whoever would have guessed, Pontmercy has a type!" He pauses again to roll his eyes again. Over-sarcastic fucker. "Marius wants to introduce you to this girl. Marius would actually like to be in a committed polyamorous relationship with both you and this girl, but, as we both know, Marius is terrible at asking for things, and would settle for being friends with this girl and spending a large portion of time pining. Both myself and Courfeyrac think you should give the threesome thing a try, because God knows Marius has enough heart, and you have enough passion, to go around, and this girl sounds delightful. Any questions?"

"Tips on being in a successful polyamorous relationship?" Enjolras says, slightly hesitantly, because his and Grantaire's friendship isn't really the kind that involves advice.

Grantaire, however, grins at him fondly. "Communication. I am going to get it tattooed on my forehead, seriously, there would never be any problems ever if people just _talked_ more. Make sure to consider them, what they want and need and all that jazz, and make sure to ask. Never assume, _always ask_. And buy a bigger bed. Waking up on the floor isn't fun, trust me."

"Thanks." Enjolras says. Grantaire just grins at him again.

"It's fine. Happy to help." He turns to leave, then pauses. "If I leave now, you are going to call Marius and get him back here, aren't you?"

Enjolras hits speed dial and presses his phone to his ear by way of answer. Grantaire shoots him one last grin, then leaves, shutting the door behind him, just as Marius picks up with a flustered, "E, hi, I am so, so sorry, I should have told you, I-"

"I love you." Enjolras interjects, before Marius can pick up any steam. "Very fucking much, even when you do stupid things. And I'd like to meet this Cosette, if that's okay."

Marius practically trips over his own tongue telling Enjolras exactly how okay that is, and Enjolras smiles to himself as he listens to Marius ramble.

Things definitely just took a turn for the better.

-

Cosette had known Marius had a boyfriend, even before they'd met.

She's best friends with Eponine, who is both an omniscient secret-discovering sneak and a terrible, terrible gossip. And Eponine is friends with Grantaire, giving her reason to hang around his group of friends and perv on all their affairs. Apparently, Marius and Enjolras are not, technically, official, but (according to Grantaire, who is apparently some kind of Enjolras scholar) that's more due to the newness and potential breakableness of their relationship than anything else.

So, yes, Cosette had known about Enjolras. 

That hadn't stopped her developing a crush the size of a small planet on Marius, but she hadn't intended to act on it. She's not a cheater.

Except now, she's pretty sure Enjolras would be perfectly okay with it. She's pretty sure his only concession would be to watch. Or possibly join in.

Christ, she would be so okay with him joining in. 

They're sitting in the corner of the tiny independent cafe Marius and Enjolras apparently live in. Cosette is drinking a hot chocolate (she wants to write poetry about the hot chocolate. Apparently, resident poet Jehan has already done that. Twice.), and Marius and Enjolras are drinking black coffee and green tea (they keep stealing sips of each other's drinks, it's adorable). They're talking about Elementary versus Sherlock and the many, many ways Stephen Moffatt is problematic. 

It's the most fun Cosette has had in months.

"It was a pun." Enjolras is saying, gesturing wildly with the hand not resting on top of Marius' hand. "A pun. That's not good writing, that's sensationalist crap."

"Marius?" Cosette says, without entirely planning to. Marius tears his eyes away from Enjolras to look at her curiously. "If I was to kiss Enjolras, what would happen?"

Marius' eyes widen. So do Enjolras'. It would be comical, if Cosette wasn't so emotionally invested. "I'd die and go to heaven?" Marius offers, tentatively, with a tentative smile to match.

"I'd kiss back." Enjolras adds. "And then, when we broke for air, direct you towards Marius. Who'd thoroughly enjoy kissing you, especially if he could taste me in your mouth."

Cosette's mouth has gone dry. She swallows and stands. "We are going back to my flat now. There will be kissing. And then relationship negotiation, but kissing first."

She doesn't miss the matching grins that spread across Marius and Enjolras' faces. In fact, they only make it that much harder for her to resist the urge to jump them both in the middle of this respectable cafe, where anyone and everyone can see. 

Determinedly, she grabs both of their hands and makes for the door.

The sooner they get back to hers (and thank goodness Gavroche is staying at a friend's this weekend), the sooner there will be make-outs. And there is little she wants more right now than make-outs, especially with these two ridiculously attractive gentlemen, especially with breaks to discuss Jonny Lee Miller.

Her life could honestly not get any better.

-

Marius is pretty sure he's dreaming.

He's lent against the kitchen counter in his and Enjolras' flat, a cup of still-steaming coffee in his hands. He's wearing Enjolras' hoodie, because it's warm and comfy and it smells nice and he can. Cosette is sat on the counter next to him, wearing his boxers and Enjolras' t-shirt (and, okay, clothes sharing wasn't a kink he knew he had, but holy Jesus Christ does she look hot like that), swinging her legs and rambling happily about this book she was reading, as they both watch Enjolras cook breakfast. 

It definitely feels too good to be true. 

He's debating pinching himself, when Cosette breaks off mid-sentence to wrap a hand around the back of his neck and pull him in for a kiss.

A very thorough kiss.

When they break for air, he rests his forehead against hers and asks, slightly breathless, "What was that for?"

"You look incredibly kissable in the morning." Cosette tells him, almost conspiratorially. "I couldn't help myself."

"Perfectly understandable." Enjolras says, with an audible grin. "Though you look incredibly kissable quite consistently, to be fair."

Cosette hums in agreement. Marius feels an almost overwhelming rush of affection for both of them, and presses a brief kiss to Cosette's lips before diving for Enjolras.

Breakfast, needless to say, is forgotten, in favour of a return to bed.

They can always try again later.


End file.
